Crossing the Line (38 page)

“Maybe the uranium was under the control of the
Pecherskaya
and Petrenko stole it,” Kelso suggested.

“There are multiple permutations of this. We could guess until we find her dead. I’m not prepared to wait.”

“Why would this guy betray her? He wants the deal to go ahead. He wants to know what happens and he’s relying on her telling you. Leave her where she is. She’s keeping Kusmin in check. We’ll be following the guys he’s talking to. We can pick up flotsam each side of the deal.”

As Kelso had intended, by the time they arrived back at the hotel, it was too late. Everything was over and Katya had gone.

* * * * *

Aleksei kept quiet until he’d driven away. Katya’s head reeled with information.

“I should have let them strip you. That might have kept you quiet.”

“You didn’t tell me I couldn’t say anything.”

He rolled his eyes. “Would it have made any difference?”

“Were you tempted to include me in the deal?”

He laughed. “I wonder how much he’d have paid. How much would you accept to spend a night with him?”

“How much would you?” she retorted. “What if he’d wanted you? Or both of us? Would you have taken your clothes off and let him fuck you?”

“Interesting question. No, I wouldn’t and there is no price I’d have accepted for you. None. I want to look after you, not let you get hurt. I want to understand you.”

“You think you’re even close to that?”

“Yes.”

His confidence surprised her.

“I’ve watched your eyes. The first time I saw you in the restaurant I knew you’d been hurt, that you had secrets. When I uncovered some of them, I recognized vulnerability too though you were trying hard to repress it. You also tried hard not to feel anything, but sometimes you did and those moments made me believe you could be mended. Then Max fucking Hastings killed something inside you and I was arrogant and disappointed enough to think it might be your love for me.”

He glanced at her and she saw something in his eyes then, his own vulnerability, his hope.

“We’re not mended, either of us, but I haven’t given up,” he said. “We’ll get out of this.”

“What I want is not to be involved at all. Where were they from? They sounded like Arabs.”

“I have no idea. I don’t care.”

“Al-Qaeda?”

“Probably.”

Katya’s heart lurched. “Oh God, don’t do this deal with them. Don’t provide them with the means to hurt people. You’d go to prison for life if you were caught. You should tell the authorities. Cut a deal. Please, Aleksei. This is wrong. I can’t believe you’d do this.”

He looked away from the road and stared at her for too long before turning his gaze back to the traffic. Katya was afraid she’d gone too far. She was supposed to be encouraging him, but she couldn’t.

“Don’t worry,” he said quietly. “I know what I’m doing.”

Beth opened the door. She scowled at Aleksei and smiled at Katya.

“He’s in the den,” she said.

Katya felt as though she’d walked into a lion’s cage. Petrenko sat in a recliner, watching football on a flat screen TV. He switched it off when they came in and rose to his feet.

“Ah, the lovely Katya. Oh dear, not so lovely. Been arguing with Aleksei’s fist?”

“He’s never hit me,” Katya said.
The TV, yes, me no. And that was when he thought I was dead.
The awareness that Aleksei really did care for her swamped her with remorse. Despite her pleas to the FBI, he’d go down with Viktor unless she warned him.

“Beth, get us something to drink. Should I be opening champagne?”

Aleksei nodded.

“The Cristal, Beth.”

She handed the bottle to Petrenko, brought over a tray of glasses and slipped out of the room. He opened it with a flourish and poured. Aleksei passed a glass to Katya and waited. Beth returned rubbing her nose, Revnik behind her. Katya’s fingers tightened on the glass.
Shit.

“What’s Constantin doing here?” Aleksei asked.

“A toast,” Petrenko said. “
Smert' predateljam.”
Death to traitors.

“What?” Aleksei lowered his glass and Katya almost dropped hers.

“Just a toast, Aleksei.”

Her heart pounded hard enough to break out of her chest.

“Sit down. What happened at the meeting?” Petrenko asked. “How much money have you made me?”

“Enough,” Aleksei said.

“Give me the details.”

“In front of him?” Aleksei glanced at Revnik.

“You conducted our business in front of that
blyad
,” Petrenko snarled. “She’s fucking us all, Aleksei. I warned you and you wouldn’t listen.”

Katya met Petrenko’s gaze and her spine tingled.

“She spent the night in bed with an FBI agent. I have proof she left the apartment and returned at three this morning.”

Her lungs stopped working.

“What proof?” Aleksei asked.

“Constantin is my mole. He’s FSB, conveniently seconded to the FBI. He tells me Katya left the apartment last night on roller blades. She padded herself out so Park wouldn’t realize it was her. She returned disguised as a pregnant wife. The FBI is expecting her to tell them everything you’ve just discussed.”

A ghost dived into her mouth, filling every part of her with freezing air.

“Katya didn’t leave the apartment last night,” Aleksei said.

“I have the security tapes here.” Petrenko gestured to a pile next to the TV.

“I’ve looked at the tapes,” Aleksei said but she heard uncertainty in his voice.

“Last chance, Katya. Tell the truth.” Petrenko smiled.

Telling the truth wasn’t an option. Twisting the truth might save her.

“I did leave the apartment. I left it to meet him.” She looked at Revnik. “He’s
Pecherskaya.”

Revnik laughed. “On what basis do you make that ridiculous claim?”

“Because Silenovich told me.” He was the
Pakhan
, the boss of the
Pecherskaya
. She’d spoken to him once in Moscow.

“This is rubbish. You’re
suchka derganaya
.” A crazy bitch. Revnik moved to the TV and put in a tape. “She’s been talking to the FBI. Tell them the truth, Bach. That’s what they call her. She’s a little bitch, shoving her butt in the air for the dog with the biggest cock and it’s not you, Aleksei. You clearly don’t want to believe it but she left the apartment last night to go to her FBI lover.”

Aleksei stiffened beside her.

“Liar,” Katya snapped. “I left the apartment to meet you. You called me and said you’d found out I was working for Silenovich and if I didn’t meet you, you’d tell Aleksei.”

“Utter crap.” Revnik laughed.

Katya watched herself on the TV, leaving the apartment on the roller blades. Her face was down, but the number of the apartment she came out of was very clear.
Bastard.
Revnik ejected the tape and put in another. This time she was with him, looking huge.

“Remember?” he said in a smug voice. “If I’d enticed you out to talk to me, why did I want you in another disguise to bring you back?”

“I just did what you told me. I was scared.”

“Where’s your phone? You’ll see there’s no call from me.”

Katya’s mouth was dry. Thank God, she’d not brought her phone with her. “I don’t have it with me. And before you show there’s no call to me from yours, you’d have made sure of that. You brought me back to the apartment, left me and then a few moments later, knocked on the door. When I opened it you pushed your way inside. When I refused to suck your dick you slammed my head against the wall.”

“Pure fantasy.” Revnik dismissed her claim with a flick of his fingers.

Katya turned to Petrenko. “You were trying to cheat them, Viktor. Silenovich believes this uranium deal should be in the hands of the
Pecherskaya
not the
Derzhimordovskaya
, but he was willing to share until he realized Revnik was double-crossing him, working for both him and you, playing you both against the FSB.”

“You aren’t listening to this garbage, surely?” Revnik said.

“More champagne anyone?” Beth asked.

“Shut the fuck up,” Petrenko snapped.

Beth opened another bottle and settled in the recliner.

“Katya was working with the FBI before she got off the plane,” Revnik said. “She hates you, Viktor, because you unleashed your wild dog on her sister. She fucked her way to the answers she wanted in Moscow and she’s done the same here. She sought out your son and wrapped him in her web. Tell them the truth, Katya.” Revnik pointed a gun at her. “You aren’t working for Silenovich. You wouldn’t know the guy if he thumped you in the face.”

Thank you.
She almost mustered a smile. “Five-eight, dyes his hair, big nose, wire-rimmed glasses. He has a slight lisp and he hates champagne. And he never thumped me in the face—that was you.”

“Anyone could have told you what he was like,” Revnik said.

She had to fight not to shiver. “My father went to see him after Galya had been killed. They did a deal. Silenovich gave him Petrenko’s name and address in return for—”

“Stop lying. You know we gave you his name.”

“What do you mean?” Petrenko demanded.

Katya wanted to leap in the air and cheer.

“It was just a game,” Revnik said. His flustered look gave Katya hope. “You weren’t in any danger, Viktor. I never thought she’d get anywhere near you. If she did, I’d have told you.”

“So why didn’t you speak out on the boat?” Katya asked, uncomfortably aware that at her side, Aleksei remained silent.

“Yes, why didn’t you?” Petrenko stared at Revnik.

“Why are you listening to her? She’s a fucking liar.”

“I’m not lying. Silenovich wanted to use my father’s bank. They did a deal. That’s how we found out about you.”

“Okay. I give in.” Revnik pulled the trigger.

Katya didn’t connect the gun, the noise and the blood and neither did Beth. It took a second for the bottle to slip from Beth’s fingers and then she slumped as though all the bones had been sucked from her body.

“What the fuck?” Petrenko stood and Revnik aimed the gun at him.

“Sit down.”

“What did you do that for?”

“No one is taking this seriously. I was making a point, as you did on the boat. I never liked the air-headed little bitch.”

“Look at the fucking mess you’ve made,” Petrenko said.

Katya couldn’t move. Aleksei was frozen beside her. The inevitability of what was to come was too overwhelming. It wouldn’t matter what she said. She was going to die. Revnik turned the gun on her.

“Unless you tell the truth right now, you’re not going to be as lucky as Beth,” he said. “First bullet in your arm, next in your leg and so on until we hear all of it.”

“I’ve told the truth,” she said, her stomach churning in fear. “You pretend to be working for Petrenko but you’re not. If you were his, you’d have told him sooner about Galya not being what she seemed.”

“She was deep undercover. I couldn’t tell Viktor what I didn’t know. Of course once I found out, I made sure he knew.”

Katya swallowed hard. The truth at last.

“Is that it? Is that all you have?” Revnik sneered.

“Why didn’t you tell him on the boat that you recognized me? Why did you move your family from Moscow? So Petrenko can’t get at them? Is that a sign of a man who trusts his employer? You do what suits you and you alone. You might think you know the truth about me but you’re wrong.”

“Shut your fucking mouth, bitch,” Revnik snapped. “You’re not working for the
Pecherskaya
.”

“You’d only know that if you were working for them,” Katya said.

Revnik widened his eyes. “You’re the most cunning little shit it’s ever been my misfortune to meet. You really did belong in the FSB.”

“All I ever wanted was to find out who killed my sister and my family and make them pay. I know now that Kirill killed Galya when Petrenko discovered she was working undercover for the security service. I always thought she was a secretary. Maybe my father knew the truth but he didn’t tell me. My family died because my father became obsessed over Galya’s death, and he stole from his bank to fund that obsession. We ended up owing money to Silenovich. Then my father died and I was given a choice. Work to pay off the debt or die and if, while I was working, I happened to find out who killed Galya and my family then that was okay with him.” Katya turned to Aleksei. “I had no idea you were his son. My uncle never owed him money. That was just to give me an excuse to ask about him. The only lie I ever told.”

Aleksei didn’t even blink. He was like a statue. Maybe there was too much history for it to have worked between them, the house and kids never going to happen and her heart swelled with sadness.

“What exactly are you supposed to be doing for Silenovich?” Petrenko asked.

“You can’t believe her,” Revnik shouted. “Use your brain, Viktor. Let me get rid of her. I’ve done you a favor here, stopped her reporting back to the feds.”

“Well?” Petrenko looked at Katya.

She had to speak from the heart, make them believe her. “Silenovich can get the uranium safely from Turkey to wherever it’s needed. All he wants is a share, his name with yours on the deal. A cooperative effort. He thinks he’ll look bad if he’s not involved because the man at the institute in Abkhazia approached him before you. I was supposed to report back everything I heard about the uranium and then he planned to call you and repeat what I’d said, showing you how vulnerable you were.”

“And what were you going to get out of this?”

“I’d learn who pushed my father’s car into the river.”

Petrenko’s gaze shifted to Revnik.

“Since I’m tying up loose ends here, I’ll satisfy your curiosity,” Revnik said. “I was driving the other car. Viktor didn’t ask me to do it, but you really were getting to be a nuisance. You should have drowned with the rest of your family. I hadn’t expected you to go to that party. How selfish was that? The first time your mother had been out of the apartment in months, I was sure you’d go home with them. Just think, you probably had your face buried in some guy’s crotch while your mother and father were fighting for the last bubble of air. I suppose they might have been thinking about you, but you sure as fuck weren’t thinking about them.”

She bit back her cry.

“Where’s Kirill?” Revnik asked suddenly. “I don’t want that turd sneaking up on me.”

“Mexico,” Petrenko said.

“What’s he doing there? Sharpening his knife inside some girl’s cunt?” He turned back to Katya. “If it weren’t for the fact that I was curious about how you’d try and worm your way out of this, I’d have shot you the moment I saw you. You’re smart, though sadly not smart enough. I suppose I could have tried to use you as a bargaining tool with Aleksei. He tells me about the uranium deal and you go free. But I wouldn’t have meant it and anyway I don’t think he cares anymore.”

Maybe he didn’t but he hadn’t moved from her side.

“What do you want, Revnik?” Katya asked. “You going to kill us all now or just me? Why are you still holding a gun on Petrenko?”

“Yeah, why is that?” Petrenko asked.

“Call Silenovich, Viktor,” she said quietly. “Ask him about Revnik. Pretend you want to do a deal even if you don’t, or why don’t you ring Revnik’s wife and have a word with her.”

“Shut up or I’ll shoot you right now,” Revnik spat.

Petrenko picked up the phone.

“Put it down,” Revnik said.

“What do you have to worry about? Let me make the call.” He tapped in the numbers.

Revnik fired and Petrenko’s eyes opened wide in surprise. As Revnik turned the gun in her direction and fired twice, Aleksei yanked her down. She thought neither of them had been hit until blood dripped onto her neck from his head.